Hard Work and Good Times

Currently, my school and I are writing a project in order to receive funds for a new English classroom. The way the project works is:

• We decide what we want and how much it's going to cost
• Our community funds 25% of the project
• The project is posted online and American organizations donate the other 75%
• Our fully funded project is implemented

Seems easy enough and I'm hoping it will be just that: easy. We've decided to re-model our English classroom which will cost almost 6,000 leva. The 25% took some time to come up with but the municipality offered to pay for new windows which worked out perfectly. Before the municipality stepped in, my students from the Volunteer Committee were planning fundraisers to help raise the money. The last two Saturdays, with the help of another awesome volunteer, we've gone to the local market and sold raffle tickets. We've raised over 100 leva and I couldn't be more proud of them, they really worked hard and had a great attitude the whole time. I have to say it was the most fun I've had with my students all year and it came with the greatest sense of accomplishment.

However, now that we don't actually need to fundraise because of those new windows, we've decided to use the money to buy a new computer, which is something we wanted to include in the project but didn't think we could afford. We've found a local place that revamps old computers and sells them at a reasonable price so all we have to do is raise 400-500 leva and our classroom will be complete! With a new computer in the room we'll be able to utilize the school's projector which hardly ever leaves the director's office simply because there are no computers in the school to give it a purpose. I find it interesting that every school in Bulgaria is required to have a projector but that they go unused because there aren't computers in most classrooms to hook them up to and no form of training or resources for the teachers who, like me, may want to bring a laptop from home in order to make use of it.

Anyway, the project is ready and I'll be sending it in for approval within the next couple of days. I hope the funding comes quickly so we're able to finish construction before the new school year begins. It's all very exciting and I can't wait til it's finished and all our hard work is right before our eyes in the form of a shiny, new, modern classroom. I'm hoping it will perpetuate a feeling of seriousness and motivation for the students when it comes to English. Lord knows they could use it.

We have a few more ideas for fundraisers including partnering with the local restaurant and hosting a bake sale which I hope to get started this summer. It'll be nice to keep the Volunteer Committee going after the school year ends. I'd like to give them some sort of prize or certificate at the end of the year for all of their help, hard work, and good ideas but I haven't decided exactly what I wanna do for them yet.

On a seperate note, May has 20 working days and, of those 20, we have 8 days off of school - it's the month of holidays, testing, and fun and I've really been enjoying it. This upcoming week I only teach Monday and Wednesday as Tuesday is testing day for the high school (and even though we're a primary school we get the day off), Thursday is a break for schools in the Sofia region (still not sure why), and Friday is sports day. I'm EXTREMELY excited about sports day. I love being outside and running around with the kids. We get to relate to one-another out of the classroom and have fun doing it. I plan to play volleyball, per usual, but also teach them 3 Flags Up which is a game every kid loves and requires nothing more than an easily-catchable ball. I told the athletic director that I'd like to help and she seemed thrilled. Should be a fabulously tiring day and an ideal way to end the week.

Overall, the Spring has been pretty great and I have a feeling it's only gonna get better as we transition into SUMMER!

-Age

I'll Capitalize the Crap Out of Spring

I hung my laundry outside today. This may seem like super mundane news to some but it’s actually pretty monumental in my life right now. The sun is out, there’s a lovely breeze and I swear I can feel Spring all the way down to my bones. As soon as the fruit trees outside my apartment start to bloom, I’m hanging my мартеници on the prettiest one and taking a picture of that bad boy for ya. You’re welcome.

So, Word is telling me (with a patronizing little green squiggly line) that Spring isn’t actually capitalized. I feel like that’s wrong. We’re supposed to capitalize names, right? And Spring is the name of what’s making me happy right now so…bite me, Word. Just. Bite. Me.

Capitalization also implies importance in some cases. Maybe. I’m going to build off of that idea and showcase my feelings for the Four Seasons with grammar or punctuation or whatever:

SUMMER

SPRing

Fall

winter

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with that.

So, the dreaded season of snow is over and, according to my Bulgarian friend, Tsvetla, “we will feel overwhelmingly tired for a little while as our bodies adjust but soon we will be happier and more energetic than ever before!” (this wasn’t a direct quote or anything – if I’d directly quoted her there’d be red and green little squiggly lines everywhere)

My colleagues are so aware of my disgust for cold weather and my desperate desire for warmer weather that the past few days have been full of them pointing out the window and saying, “Слънчево! Sunny!” I give them a big thumbs up and we both walk away feeling as though that particular cultural exchange went really well.

Well, I have a sink full of underwear in need of washing so I can hang them on my balcony for all to see. I imagine my neighbors have really missed my polka-dots over the past few months. Who knows, maybe some of them have even forgotten what my underwear looks like. Wouldn’t that be a shame. No worries, neighbors, there’s months and months of future underwear sightings to be had and be assured I’ll be taking a gander at yours as well (though it really takes the mystery out of the whole “boxers or briefs” game).

-Age